 Micro Wind Systems currently provide basic energy services for lighting, radio, television, and the operation of small appliances to hundreds of thousands of rural households and cottage industries that have no access to electricity grids. Modern micro-wind turbines are technically sophisticated, high reliability products ranging from a few hundred watts to 50 kW. The turbines generally have only 2 or 3 moving parts and employ passive controls features, which leads to rugged and reliable systems with very low maintenance requirements. Micro-wind systems for water pumping, both mechanical-drive and electric-drive systems, are both proven and commercially available.
There are emerging micro-wind systems for stand-alone energy supply, as both wind home systems, PV/wind home systems and battery charging stations.  Household-size wind energy systems have been used most in China, where over 160,000 systems provide energy services for nomadic herdsman in Inner Mongolia. The systems consists of a wind turbine with direct current generator, charge controller, battery, wiring and switches, lights and an outlet. Installed capacity can range from 25 to 100 Watts per household. Wind battery charging stations are a viable option to provide lighting and entertainment services at a more affordable cost than single-household systems. The system consists of a larger wind turbine (often several kW) with a direct current generator, more sophisticated charge controller, battery bank, wiring and switches. Customers bring discharged batteries to the station and return with freshly charged batteries, which they use to power their households lights and appliances. Just like with solar home systems, the customer can replace existing household expenditures for kerosene, candles, and dry-cell batteries with the fees to pay for the charging service. Wind-PV hybrid systems are used for large stand-alone energy systems, such as schools, clinics and cottage industries, or for mini-grid applications. The wind and solar resources generally complement each other seasonally and can often provide facility power with no back-up generator. These systems can also supplement or replace portable generators, and if desired, provide AC output from an inverter. Typical size for a school is 1.5 kWp. 
System cost and performance Micro-wind systems, especially battery charging stations can provide very low-cost energy services to poor rural households. One project in Timor, Indonesia installed a 7.5 kW wind turbine with 30m tower to charges batteries for ~40 homes, plus powers productive uses (freezers, shop tools). The installed cost was ~$60,000 in 1997. The project has provided sustainable electrification at a household cost of about $2.40 per month. This is one of 15 similar projects the under WIND project. |
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